If you are eating your fruits and vegetables as dictated by the program, you are probably, from time to time, looking for a crunchy salty snack. But don’t go for the big bag of BarBQ Chips! There are healthy alternatives that even you can prepare.

Here is a link to a recipe for Roasted Spiced Chickpeas that is essentially foolproof. All you have to do is rinse a can of chickpeas and roast them with spices. My guess is that you don’t have to be doctrinaire about using cumin, coriander and paprika, but could pretty much use any medley of spices you like and it would come out tasty. You could use curry powder, which is a mixture of spices, Emeril’s Essence or, if you happen to be in Boston’s South End you could stop by South End Formaggio and get a jar of Ras El Hanout.

Further diligent research indicates that the unit for “portions” or “servings” is the humble cup. The CDC has some nice pictures relating a “cup” to commonly known fruits and vegetables. What baffles me is that they choose to relate “servings” of oddly shaped items to a measure of volume.

I say we push for “servings” by weight, and that we demand that they be given in THE METRIC SYSTEM!